DOWNEY — An historic local building, home of the first Taco Bell restaurant at 7112 Firestone Blvd. in 1962, has escaped the wrecking ball but will not be located in the city of its birth as hoped by local conservation officials.

The 400-square-foot structure with the Moorish arches was moved 45 miles south to the complex of the Taco Bell chain headquarters in Irvine Nov. 19.

A corporate spokesperson said company officials will poll area residents on how to display the building on the headquarters site, 1 Glenn Bell Way at the Irvine Business Center.

Another Mexican food eatery, Seafood and Tacos Raul, operated out of the building of the original Taco Bell before it closed at the end of December 2014, a Downey Conservancy spokesperson said.

However, Downey still retains one of the oldest operating McDonald’s Restaurants, preserved as an eatery with a small museum by the McDonald’s Corporation at Florence Avenue and Lakewood Boulevard. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.

Taco Bell was founded by Glen Bell in March 1962, when he chose the location because it “was in a growth area near a middle-class neighborhood, on a street with good traffic and numerous small businesses,” according to “Taco Titan: The Glen Bell Story.”

Downey Conservancy leaders said that they have not only reached out to Taco Bell, but also other firms that have had “success in the adaptive reuse of important buildings.”

is a community-based organization dedicated to promoting and supporting the preservation of the culturally and historically significant resources of the city of Downey, said spokesperson Carmen Tse in a previous news release.

No plans have been submitted as of Nov. 23 for a new development on the site, which is zoned for commercial use, according to a spokesman at the Downey Planning Commission office.